Sword Art Online: Hollow Battlefield
by TheRedStoryteller
Summary: Waking up after being abducted, Kazuto Kiriguya, also known as Kirito, is thrown into a world of Guns and Warfare. However this world isn't about fun or games, it's a testing site developed as VR Training for soldiers, and it's running with The Death Game's rules.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

The last thing that Kazuto Kiriguya remembered was the room going dark as shadowy figures overwhelmed him. His body getting heavy before falling into nothing. Coming to, Kazuto noticed his surroundings, it looked like a dilapidated motel room, the bed was rough and uncomfortable. He got up off the bed shuffling over to a window still feeling the weight of his sleep on him. Pulling back the crimson curtains, Kazuto's eyes went wide with surprise. His window was a sight to a warzone, a dystopian city in the sand with wrecks of vehicles and armored transports scattered through the streets, some of the buildings looked burnt and bombed out.

 _This can't be real….._ Kazuto tore his gaze from the window and tried slapping himself to try and wake himself up. There was a whistle however that got louder and deeper as he stopped to listen, followed by a thundering explosion that flung Kazuto out the window. The stinging feeling of the blast and landing outside, through the glass window solidified his fears.

"Halt!" A voice shouted, turning around slowly, a few men came up in black and red body armor, armed with assault rifles aimed at the seventeen year old. "Inform the Director we found the target: Kirito." Kirito was Kazuto's moniker from his time in the VRMMORPG Sword Art Online and Alfheim Online. After beating the game and freeing everyone in SAO, Kazuto lived a life underground and off radars of a lot of people for the most part, he'd get roped into some Government investigational work, most notably with the Death Gun incident in Gun Gale Online.

 _This place definitely reminds me of Gun Gale Online._ Almost too much in his opinion, there was an itching feeling in the back of his head that he's seen this before, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Hands behind your head now!" the soldier shouted, fumbling for words, Kazuto slowly did as he was told as he stared into the glowing goggled gaze of the armed soldier in front of him. "The Director wants a word with you." the soldier threw out a drone like device and a hologram of a man appeared, his face was scarred and his hair was silver, but Kazuto remembered those eyes anywhere. The smug gaze of the man that held Asuna imprisoned on the VRMMO Alfheim Online: Sugou Noboyuki.

"Noboyuki?!" he exclaimed "You're supposed to be in jail!" Kazuto's blood ran hot with anger, but a chill of fear ran down his spine as he slowly started to figure out that wherever he himself was, he was now a prisoner to this psycho, and he could bet he'd be a rat in a death trap.

"I was in jail, _Kirito_ but thanks to some new friends and backers, I am a free man." Sugou Noboyuki gleefully explained with a glint of madness in his eyes. Sugou Noboyuki was a chief researcher for the company of RECT Inc, who helped to develop the game Alfheim, however he also was responsible for mind manipulation tests on three hundred survivors from Sword Art Online. Tests to recondition the human mind to remold it into whatever shape they wanted, and given how these soldiers were acting, they were either NPCs or some poor sods who were put under those tests and their minds were gone. There wasn't enough therapy that could properly help the boy cope with what he witnessed Noboyuki do.

"Where the hell am I?!" On the cue of Kazuto's question, Noboyuki started to pose like someone who was ready to show off an exhibit, a twisted art gallery, with a clap of his hand the drone projecting the hologram started to move along with him, circling around Kazuto like a shark smelling blood in the water

"My latest endeavor! A VR training program designed to train soldiers, mixed in with my little testing grounds from Alfheim Online, I've molded these fine _Death Troopers_ into the ultimate fighting force. I _borrowed_ some assets from other games that developers dumped after crowds panned or forgot about it, and you my boy are one of many lab rats…" He was abducted and dragged into another virtual world. By almost similar circumstances as Asuna except here he was at gunpoint by these 'Death Troopers' as Sugou had called them, victims already lost to the madness of this world, reshaped to do his bidding.

"What does this have to do with me? What does _any_ of this have to do with me?!" Kazuto snapped, one of the troopers there flinched as his rifle looked like he was ready to fire, Noboyuki however took one look at the trooper and waved his hand, a shock came through the one that wavered slightly as they howled in pain from the shock.

"You see, Kiriguya. You may of thwarted me and my project, almost killed me. You're here along with many other degenerates, misfits, and other weirdos that the world cast aside or looked away from, you are rats, nothing more than cannon fodder for my wonderful soldiers. You die here," Noboyuki snapped his fingers and made a snuffing sound "You die in the real world. Welcome to the Death Game 2.0."

"Games have an exit, a goal to shoot for. What exactly is my goal here?" Kazuto's pulse went quick and rapid, pounding his ears drowning out any sound coming from Noboyuki who was laughing at Kazuto's face of numbness and shock, one deep breath in and Kazuto worked to regain himself in that moment before staring daggers at the hologram of Sugou.

"To die. But you know, I'm a good sport, I'm going to give you a ten second head start to run for it, after that if we don't kill you, the other rats might. Now, what was the line from that delightful American film? Oh yeah!" The guns were cocked, Kazuto's vision darted between his two captors before Sugou started to shout mockingly "Run Forest, run!" Kazuto bolted for the door, charging through the Image of his captor and down the hall before the bullets started to fly. Noboyuki's Death Troopers were now in pursuit, taking the first opening he saw he ducked into another room and ran for the outer patio area of the Hotel room, judging his chances to make the jump to a nearby adjacent rooftop. Kazuto took the risk, getting a running start he springboarded off the ledge and landed on the roof not so gracefully, wincing from the impact before getting up onto his feet and limping off to the nearest bit of cover at a stairwell heading down to a greenhouse, distant trudging of boots getting louder.

 _Christ, where the hell can I go?!_ Kazuto kept low in a patch of corn which helped to mask his presence in the Greenhouse as soldiers came in with their weapons searching the room. A thunderous cracking of the silence sent a jolt through him as he hit the floor, the sounds shattering of glass followed a scream, then the de-rez of a player and gunfire kept Kazuto to the ground

"Sniper!" one of the soldiers shouted "Anyone see them?!" Peeking out, he noticed one of the enemy's weapons was close to him with the armor laying next to it. Glancing up at the distracted soldiers, he moved to grab the items, the inventory menu popped up a second later to show him the body armor and the weapon.

The Weapon was designated a Submachine Gun, a K-10 Vector, a small video played of how to use it, it's safety switch, it's reload button, Kirito checked the ammo count as a small Augmented Reality numbers popped up on the side of the gun.

 _Okay twenty bullets out of twenty six…you can do this Kazuto…_ Taking careful aim, he squeezed the trigger letting the burst strike one of the soldiers in the leg, dropping them to the ground in a cry of anguish, his comrade looking at both where the shot came from and where the Sniper was, he had no time however to pick up his friend as the Sniper picked his head off, a digital spray of red mist before the de-rez of his Avatar into nothing. Kazuto rushed over to the soldier before putting his weight on the wound.

"How do I get out of this place?!" he barked as the barrel of his weapon was jabbed into the man's cheek. The death troopers helmet was knocked off as he stared into the eyes of the male that was trying to kill him, breathing hard and his teeth clenched from the pain of the wound.

"You can't...you heard what the Director said. You guys are just here as Cannon fodder, rats like us…" the man gritted his teeth, looking up with pain but hate in his eyes, there was a small glimpse of fear though in his words "There's no escaping this, for any of us." Kazuto caught the swing of the knife too late and caught a slice in his arm, droplets of blood dripped to the floor as the man made one last ditch effort to kill him, his attempt though was cut short by the Sniper. Kazuto snapped his gaze to the rooftop, waiting for the inevitable end, but nothing, the glint of the rifle rose before the Sniper made a motion holding their weapon above their head before pointing to a direction to his right.

It was possible the Sniper was a potential ally in this mad world, but there was no other choice, he couldn't fight off an army by himself, he wasn't experienced with a gun, the recoil on the Vector was a little much for him.

 _Well at least there's one gun I'm familiar with..._ Kazuto took another deep breath, picked up the loot of body armor, a FN 5.7 and headset from the soldier and moved on down the building. The street, was a complete and different story, there were people down below, not dressed in the uniforms of the Death Troopers under the command of Noboyuki, these people looked like criminals, crime lords and scavengers in the midst of this battle royale, the same people who were probably trapped here with him, however it seemed like this place had a community of some kind, a seedy one where there was no rules to follow except don't screw with the heads in charge.

However he stuck out like a sore thumb, heading through a market he grabbed a long coat when no one was looking and tossed it on and moved to blend into a crowd, Kazuto neared an alleyway before he was yanked into the shadow of the alley and his mouth was clasped down firmly by a hand. The sounds of heavy boots passed by him from the Death Troopers that were tailing him.

"There...that should shake them." the person said with a calm and cool female voice, removing the raider mask and goggles she had, a familiar mess of teal hair and sharp eyes stared him in the eyes

"Sinon-? H-how-holy shit it's good to see you." Kazuto blinked, before pulling her into a hug, just knowing of the familiar face was enough to add some ease and comfort to his mind, even if something like this was so out of his wheelhouse of experience. The only other time he's been on a field like this was GunGale Online.

"That honestly makes two of us Kirito, I was surprised to see you on that rooftop." Shino Asami aka Sinon the Sniper, was a player in the game Gun Gale Online when the two of them met, Kazuto was investigating Death Gun at the time of the Ballet of Bullets, she was a hell of a sharpshooter in that world and knew how to do damage from a distance, if she's here with him trapped, then she's got a better chance at survival than he does

"Y-Yeah, thanks for that." Kazuto panted slightly

"Anyways we better get moving. Agil is going to wanna know about this." Sinon spoke, motioning him to follow her down the dusty alleyway, away from the main road.

"W-Wait Agil is here too?!"

It had been weeks and still no response from Kirito. Asuna has checked her phone, logged into Alfheim Online to see if her beloved boyfriend and long time partner was okay or if something had happened. Scrolling through her contacts she pulled up the numbers for Suguha Kiriguya, Kirito's step sister and dialed it. There was a few rings before the line picked up

"H-Hello?" A yawn came from the phone, Asuna kicked herself mentally a bit at waking her up from a sleep or a nap. It was one or the other

"Hello, Leafa. It's Asuna, sorry to wake you, but has...Kirito called or contacted you lately saying he went out of town perhaps?" Asuna asked, her voice trying to contain her worry and stress.

"No, no it's fine, I was napping- _wait..._ Kazuto's not home or answering? That's not like him to do that though, not to you at least. How many times have you tried getting in touch with him?"

"I tried calling and texting him. But even Yui hasn't seen or heard from him, he hasn't been on ALO for a few weeks now." Her voice was strained "I'm gonna go over and check on him."

"Okay," Suguha's voice got more worried "We have a spare key hidden under a hollow rock that should let you into the house. Just call me if something happened alright? I can be on the first bus back from the Kendo Club trip."

"Alright, I'm just hoping he forgot to pick up or was being dense." She hung up grabbed her coat and shoes and ran for the train station, chomping at the bit hoping that her worry was unfounded. If Kirito was fine and at home then she'd ream him good if he wasn't - _You're probably worrying about nothing. I hope…_ She waited for the first train to arrive and quickly got on board.

It was dark, there was no light, sounds and or movement in the Kiriguya house as Asuna approached, she looked for the rock in mention as she moved to the door however, she noticed that the door was forced open, the lock was in decent condition.

"Hello? Kirito?" Asuna called through the doorway, she tried to flick a light switch on but no light came on. She sighed in frustration before flipping her phone flashlight on and saw the House was in shambles, it looked ransacked and robbed. The worst of thoughts and scenarios played out in her mind as she came through the door, carefully and quietly. Asuna felt her heart going a million beats per second as she came upon Kirito's room. A deep breath, she pushed the door open and looked inside: empty but there was a sign of a struggle, immediately she made a move to call the Police when she heard a faint ping on the computer.

 **Asuna Yuki. We need to talk.**

There was a webcam that looked to be on, so many online chats had happened between them and their friends: Liz, Klein, Agil, Sinon and so many others. Asuna looked at the computer before flipping the chair back up and started to type in the IM chat

 **Who is this?**

She waited for a response for a moment thinking this was insane, the police was still dialed into the phone all she needed to do was hit send, but her hand didn't make a move to hit send, right now

 **A friend. Right now, you should know that your boyfriend has been abducted and is trapped.**

"Abducted…?" Asuna mumbled

 **By who?**

A video came up on Kirito's computer from the viewpoint of the webcam, armed men breaking into Kirito's room and Kirito putting up a small fight before being overwhelmed by the aggressors. Men and women bum rushed him in the safety of his own home, none of the attackers could be identified in the video due to their masks. But there was audio, the sounds of the fight happening made Asuna's stomach churn.

 **I can't say much right now over this channel, but I can assure you that Kazuto Kiriguya is alive, for how long though I can't say. I'll be in touch.**

Asuna was gonna type something but the computer the shut down on its own. Her blood ran cold as the video played back in her head, body was shaking in fear. Grabbing the phone, she dialed up Suguha

"Leafa...you gotta get back here now. I'm gonna get Liz and we'll meet at Agil's bar." She said, shaking, horrified at her discovery of her boyfriend missing. Asuna took a few deep cleansing breaths as he worked to regain her composure; it was barely working.

"Asuna, what happened? _Is Kazuto okay_?" Suguha's voice was concerned, worried, and panicked, much more alert than before when she called her. Asuna's fist's clenched in worry, in anger.

"No. I'll explain."

Sinon tossed a shemagh around to Kirito to help disguise him a little better, as soon as they got to the bazaar. The inner city was the Wild West here, safe zones weren't a thing, but some of the people trapped here came to an agreement and a status quo had been reached.

"There is a few groups you gotta watch out for here," Sinon began to explain "55 Ronin, a Player Killer syndicate controls most of the upper North side of the city and the jungle area, they don't kill for sport but if you cross them they won't hesitate to kill. Word on the street is that they were Orphans in China lost in the sea of the system."

"What kind of players are even trapped here?" Kirito asked as they bobbed through the crowds and into alleyways cutting through some traffic and prying ears

"Orphans, criminals, and anyone who would probably be overlooked in the world. The other group is the Kozak. Mostly Eastern European with some Americans and English in the mix. They run guns here." The dusty alleys of the war torn city echoed with the sounds of people and distant gunfire. No one was flinching at the sounds or the explosions around them as if it was common place, to these scoundrels and criminals, it probably was.

"You'd think with a force of people like this with an access to guns they'd stand up to Noboyuki," Kirito commented, heading down some stairs into an abandoned industrial park "Find some way to fight back."

"We've been trying since we've got here, looked for flaws in the build, glitches, bugs to exploit to try and make it harder for the asshole to work in here, but when it comes to people who the world deemed dangerous, a risk, or expendable and you're left in a world with no rules and laws of course they're gonna make it a paradise for themselves. They don't wanna leave." Sinon slid open one of the hatches leading down into what seemed to be catacombs. "We're almost there…"

There was a sudden flash of light, Kirito lost sense of direction and Sinon as the lights were absolutely bright. The generator of the flood lights let out of loud but low hum as the sounds of guns were moved and drawn, but not fired.

"Freeze motherfucker, hands!" a voice shouted over the generator.

"Klein goddammit it's me! Turn that generator off!" Sinon hissed. The light didn't turn off for a moment before the guns were lowered.

"Holy shit, Kirito?!" The lights went down to a much more tolerable setting. The man that held them up was Klein, another survivor of Sword Art Online, and one of Kirito's best friends. Klein looked definitely right in the setting, scruffy looking militiaman with a Russian Assault rifle and a rocket launcher on his back.

"Klein!" Kirito said with a smile that immediately faltered, it turned to slight fear as his mind started to work "Wait...how many people who are connected to me are here? Asuna isn't here is she?"

"No, she's not," said Klein as his expression turned to one of stress "We don't know if she's here or not, but...almost everyone from the gang is here. Agil, Sinon, Lizbeth, Argo and myself here, we all woke up and found that we got dropped in to the same place, had handguns set for us before the head-honcho threw us into a literal meat grinder, his dark armored soldiers came at us but Sinon and Agil pretty much kicked their asses and it gave us enough time to run, we got a nice little set up down there."

Klein lead them into the hideout, there was a small community down here, a lot of unfamiliar faces, but there were some that were able to pick him out from the crowd. A pair of eyes were able to pick him out from the entourage.

"Yo kid!" Argo the information broker was another survivor and friend to Kirito rushed over, still sporting the usual whisker like marks on her face, sporting an outfit you'd see on some kind of smuggler. Argo threw an arm around Kirito placing him into a headlock, whispering into his ear. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say all this business with us being here has something to do with _you_?"

"Hey Argo, go easy on him. The asshole practically threw him against the wall with an elite Death Trooper squad." Sinon placed a hand on the broker's shoulder. Argo let go a little.

"Sorry, it's been a bit hellish. Worlds like this aren't really my favorite, not to mention since we're playing by SAO rules here, I'm really not looking forward to getting shot."

"Trust me Argo, if I had any say or control none of this would be happening." Kirito said with a shuddering sigh.

"Oh no, I know. Doesn't mean I can't give you crap, kid." Argo said with a cheeky grin before turning around looking towards the head of this little hideout community. "Hey Agil! Guess what the battlefield spat out?" Kirito glanced up and met his eyes with Agil, a brief moment of surprised came upon his face before he headed over to him, Kirito going forward meeting him half-way.

"Kirito, I guess the gang's all here." Agil said hand clasping together with Kirito's giving an affirming squeeze and a grin, Kirito tried to meet him with the grip but he lacked some of the strength Agil had.

"Not everyone. Asuna isn't here, nor Suguha- at least I hope to god they're not in this hellscape." Kirito let out a sigh "I'm gonna assume you got some kind of plan forming on how to get out of here?"

"We've kinda got a plan…." Agil rubbed the back of his head "It's kind of a long shot but it's currently dead in the water." Agil brought out some maps and photos of a complex, looked to be high security with a lot of the Deathtroopers lingering around. "From what Argo's dug up, this is the central hub for all things ran by Noboyuki here. A ton of security, personnel armed with AEK-971s, Vectors, DSR-1s and a few weapons we haven't quite placed yet. They have machine gun emplacements, a few tanks on the outside but that's not counting for what might be inside there."

"How the hell did Argo get this info?" Kirito inquired before Argo herself chimed in, feeling rather chipper

"I wouldn't be a good info broker if I didn't have my ways, kid. I went with someone out there and nabbed a guard to get some intel on the security before we had some guards on us. We got photos of the complex and a general idea of the area surrounding the joint"

"The problem though, is we don't have the manpower or resources to attack the place." Agil added in there "We've got some guns and people, but not enough for a full on attack."

"Even with the firepower and people, they still have firewalls and other things protecting that fortress. If by some miracle we find a way to get the walls down it's a suicide mission."

"So many criminals and misfits here, you think there'd be a hacker or codebreakers to get past that wall."

"If you wanna go talk to them Kirito you're more than welcome, however they're not the kind of people like we are here." said Sinon

"If we are looking to get out of here, I don't see us having any other choice." Kirito sighed

"If you wanna risk it, go with Klein and Philia, she's our loot/gunrunner and thief, if anything she'll be valuable to have there." Agil spoke. There was someone with dandelion blonde colored hair sitting in the corner where Agil motioned to. The gunrunner Philia eyed Kirito cautiously before getting up from her spot and moving close behind him. "Oh and Kirito, be careful with these guys, some of them are hooked on digi drugs so they might act unpredictably."

The term digi drugs started to make way when hackers and other programmers started to tamper with the NervGear and AmuSphere, two pieces of hardware that allowed people to do fulldives into most of the VRMMOs like Sword Art Online and ALfheim Online. Only difference, the NervGear was dangerous, it was the gun pointed at the head of everyone who played Sword Art Online on launch day, you died in that game and it would microwave your brain.

Philia followed Kirito out as she checked her gear over. She kept a relatively light loadout with her consisting of a Russian made VSS Vintorez or 'The Thread Cutter' as it's known, a sniper rifle with a integrated suppressor for quiet and low-profile kills, she had some iron sights on the side of it for closer ranged combat and her weapon was the Glock 18, a standard and popular choice for most snipers in GunGale Online.

"Don't do anything reckless here, hero." Philia commented as they headed up to the streets with their cloaks and gear on "The last thing we need is a four way gun fight between the 55 Ronin, the Kozak and the Deathtroopers."

"I'm well aware." Kirito sighed, trying to blend in with the crowd and be one among them. The area around them was the only safe zone in the place, however given the nature and behavior of everyone, it was best to keep to yourself in this situation. Criminals, Warlord look-a-likes, and wanderers walked among the bazaar, Kirito and the others shortest way to meet with one of the heads of the 55 Ronin who frequents on of the club areas of the battlefield sim. His stomach however started to form knots when Noboyuki's scarred face appeared on some of the giant monitors hovering above the bazaar and the TV screens in the marketplace

"Ladies and gentlemen of 'The Killing Fields', my name is Sugou Noboyuki, your god and ruler of this world. I have come to extend a once in a life-time opportunity, to you fine rats and waste of space of the world. There is a target of opportunity out in the world, his name is Kirito. He is a twenty year old male and is among you rats. Kill this HVT and I will guarantee one of you immunity, a chance for you to leave this world or to work alongside me. Happy hunting, and Kirito? _Good luck_." Noboyuki's grin was the last thing the screens saw before he disappeared. The patrons in the Bazaar's behavior changed up, they started to pack up most of their stuff and bought more lethal gear.

"Well that's unfortunate…" Klein sucked air through his teeth before Philia started to move quicker. Kirito kept the hood up as he followed behind feeling the pressure build up more and more on him as they ducked into the club.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After telling Suguha what happened, she tried calling Rika 'Lisbeth' Shinozaki to no avail, Shino 'Sinon' Asami but got nothing, their _interesting_ friend Klein then called Keiko Ayano, one of the younger survivors of Sword Art Online and one of her friends, back then Keiko went under the name Silica the Beast tamer, Asuna told them to meet at Agil's bar and to Asuna's surprise, it looked like it did at Kirito's home. The exterior was untouched but there was a definite fight here, chair's were broken, bottles were shattered, it looked like chaos.

"Asuna, I'm- holy shit!" Suguha gasped as she saw everything with Silica in tow "What the hell happened here?!"

"Leafa, this was almost how it looked at your house too, it was less of a bar room brawl aftermath though…" Asuna moved past the debris in the room to the bar when the phone rang suddenly, Silica let out a quick and sharp yelp in surprise as she looked to try and regain her nerve. Asuna was nervous and hesitant to answer the phone, fearing it might be someone asking for Agil, and after the warning she got about the cops or calling anyone for help, she didn't know what she could do or trust except for Silica and Suguha.

"Is it the cops?" Silica finally asked before she moved in closer. Asuna snatched the phone and took a deep breath before answering it, putting it on speaker.

"H-Hello?" she answered shakily

"Asuna Yuki, you have no reason to trust me, but I need you to listen right now. Your friends are in danger, _you're_ in danger." a voice spoke, it was muffled by an electronic voice distortion

"Who is this?" Asuna asked, her breathing stabilizing slightly for the moment.

"My name is not important, what matters is we get you to safety and try to get your friends out of danger. They're trapped in a VR program that trains soldiers run by a man called 'The Director', he sees himself as an overlord of the world, he calls it 'The Killing Fields'."

"He calls himself The Director? What's his real name?" The voice didn't respond right away as the silence built back up again.

"He never said, he never showed his face to us he always worked through a proxy." the voice spoke

"What kind of person works through a-a-a proxy?!" Suguha chimed in getting frustrated at this situation and wanting answers "What kind of people are you?!"

"The kind of people with power to make people disappear! The kind that can make anything a truth. I wanted out. Way I saw it, I overheard The Director one day talk about his fixation on Kazuto Kiriguya and he made mention of you. Never got a look at him, but I _heard_ him. He wanted to grab everyone that was connected with him during the SAO event and the ALO event."

"That's why you contacted me." Asuna spoke with a faint whisper

"I need to get you out of sight and away from The Director's radar and to figure out how to unfuck this whole thing."

Silica glanced out the window and saw a squad car pull up to a stop outside, she nudged Suguha to look at the window.

"It's the police." Asuna heard Suguha call it out once she noticed and the voice got anxious on the other end.

"Shit you need to go _now_. Those aren't cops. Those are members of the grab team."

"How will I get in touch with you?!" she inquired as he eyes went to the doorway and window.

"You won't I'll be in touch with you, _go now_!" The phone went dead and Asuna locked eyes with the both of them. Mulling over their options, not knowing what to truly do they ran for it. One of the cops noticed them as they were bolting.

"Hey stop!" they shouted. The trio ducked into an alleyway and ran up the street trying to find an area where it was busy as can be, somewhere to avoid their pursuers.

"Why don't we catch one of the trains or a bus?!" Suguha posed her stance on where to run, Silica struggled to keep up. There were sirens in the distance that seemed to grow closer and closer, like a shark circling in on the kill, Suguha hefted and started to carry Silica at that point.

"H-Hey stop, I can run just fine!" Silica protested as they began to run again for a mall that was nearby for them to duck and hide. They ran in through the doors and took a small break with some cover to catch their breath. Suguha set Silica down as they mulled their options.

"People with power that they can kidnap, abduct people with ease and are running some kind of VR prison? What did you get us into Asuna?" questioned Suguha as she stared her down

"I don't know, it was nothing I did!" she snapped, running her fingers through her hair as she tried to process what had happened. The thought of Kirito imprisoned somewhere left her with a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, it was bit of a weird feeling for her, being on the opposite side of all this for a change, her mind recalled her own imprisonment in ALfheim Online at the hands of Noboyuki.

 _Noboyuki..._ Asuna shook that thought off immediately after her skin started to crawl. Sugou Noboyuki was a twisted individual that had a fixation on her, but to her knowledge, Noboyuki was still in prison, he never had that kind of power before.

"Earth to Asuna!" Suguha called out snapping Asuna out of her brief trance. She looked to the other Kiriguya sibling and Silica who looked frazzled.

"We'll...catch a train, something...we gotta get out of the area for a bit, at least until whoever that was calls us again." Asuna spoke, "For all we know, we could be it right now. We can't trust anyone but each other. We clear?"

"Yeah." Silica nodded, acknowledging the situation. Suguha nodded soon afterwards.

"Yeah, we're clear." Asuna took the lead as they headed through the mall to locate the entrance closest to the subway station, her mind drifting back to Kirito for a moment.

The club that Kirito, Klein and Philia walked in looked about as seedy as it came, the songs of rap music, techno and dubstep ruled over any and all sound, there were patrons with guns sitting around, having fun, getting high off the Digi Drugs, some of the female patrons were working as dancers there specifically for the club.

"Klein don't get too girl crazy here, got that?" Philia spoke as loud as she could to make herself heard over the thumping techno music to their group of three.

"Nah, I like clubs like these, but seeing drugged up people along with the Ronin carrying their AKs like that...I'm good for right now." Klein spoke, actually being well reserved to much of Kirito's surprise. The 55 Ronin's leader overlooked the club from a window above, she was an intimidating woman with a sharp stare that looked like it could cut through the bone if she could try it.

"I've done business with Madam Goh before, so both of you keep your mouths shut and let me do the talking. Same goes for you hero, so keep that hood up." warned Philia as they were stopped by a couple of armed Ronin enforcers guarding the door to Madam Goh's office.

Kirito watched as Philia coerced the guards to convince them to let the three of them in, fortunately enough it worked, they were lead up the stairs to her office where she sat down waiting. Goh's office looked a lot more cleaner than the club below, a lot more sharp and tidy, decked out with Japanese architecture.

"Philia my best girl, what can I do for you?" Madam Goh inquired with a smile. She looked and reminded Kirito of Lucy Liu's character from Kill Bill. There were three chair's ready for them to sit down, elaborate chairs.

"We need your help. We're planning to make a hit on a security node that will help us get out of this place." Philia spoke, putting their plan out on the table for her

"Why would I help? That place has a heavy security, we wouldn't get within ten feet before we have the Deathtroopers on us in seconds." Goh frowned as she leaned in

"With the amount of resources you have and what I managed to snag for you guys we'd at least have a fighting chance." It was a back and forth verbal tennis match "You know as well as I do programs like this, especially when it's in beta testing has bugs and glitches to them and I know you use them to avoid the eye of the Overlord." Goh looked to Philia then to Kirito, studying him

"Tell me, since you run with the man known as Agil, he ran with someone named Kirito, that correct?" Goh inquired. The three of them tensed up slightly as they worked to maintain their cool, and Kirito's cover.

"Madam Goh I don't know-"

"Yes or no Philia." Goh interrogated, her tone getting more sharp and hostile. Philia's confidence ebbed away slightly as she started to be more subdued.

"Yes, it's true." Philia nodded

"What would you think would happen if he were to come here? Under our noses? Do you think we'd want a danger like that here? To destroy all that we've done?!" Goh got more hostile before she looked to the hooded and masked Kirito. She drew a Magnum revolver from her desk and cocked it aiming at Klein.

"Remove the hood and mask now!" she ordered looked daggers at Kirito

"Madam Goh please-!" Philia was ready to get up but it was silenced by a warning shot whizzing past Klein who let out a yelp of terror

"Fuck me!" Klein hissed in fear. Kirito stood up wanting enough of this.

"Alright fine!" he barked before removing his mask and hood, showing his features off to Goh who slowly lowered her weapon. Coming out from behind the desk she stood in front of him, studying him.

"You're nothing but a welp, a child but your eyes tell me you've killed before. Tell me, _Kirito_. Why does the Overlord have a hard on for your death?" the Ronin leader inquired, being more relaxed, leaning on her desk.

"Noboyuki had my girlfriend trapped in the VRMMORPG called ALfheim Online, doing mind manipulation experiments on another 300 survivors from Sword Art Online." Kirito recanted "He didn't like the fact I whooped his ass in a world he saw himself as a god. He even tried stacking the deck against me there. But I kicked his ass in VR and in the real world. Left him for the cops."

"I'm amazed you didn't kill him to be honest." Goh said with a brief laugh "That is honestly the most amusing thing I've heard all day, the Overlord getting his ass kicked by a teenager for stealing his girl. It's the most pathetic thing I've ever heard!" Goh burst into laughter along with her guards in the room. Kirito didn't know what to think right now as he stood rigid and at attention. "Thank you, that made my day."

"So...will you help us?" Philia asked finally as the laughter died down and the muffled noise of rap music started to fill the air.

"Honestly I wish I could, but without any substance or proof that this assault on the Overlord- I mean Noboyuki wouldn't be a suicide run, I can't back that horse. I'm sorry Philia." Goh spoke before returning to her chair. Kirito sat down after thing seemed to relax.

"You must realize that Noboyuki will come for you group after awhile. Nothing good here can last." Kirito chimed in "After more and more people get picked off in these communities, he will come to quash you."

"I've got enough problems with the Kozak right now. Bunch of wild and rabid dogs running amok trying to establish dominance." Goh frowned. "They're violent and dangerous in packs but they're not as organized as they like to believe." Klein glanced back over her shoulder out the window and saw that there was movement on some of the catwalks above and a rifle was aimed at Goh.

"GUN!" Goh turned to look as the thunderous crack of a high powered rifle. She barely had time to duck before the window shattered. Kirito and Philia ducked to the ground, Klein already had his gun at the ready as he was firing on the attacking gunman down below in the club more gunmen rushed in with members of the 55 Ronin worked to counter the attack.

"Fucking Kozak!" Goh hissed in rage before grabbing a Type-92 rifle from the wall and unloading the clip in bursts. Kirito checked his Vector, trying to figure out some kind of plan of attack. Philia was moving to escape along with Klein

"Kirito c'mon!" Klein called out. Kirito broke out into a full sprint to the door as the bullets whizzed past his head. Down the stairs they were headed when one of the Ronin's came flying in through the door as bullets slammed into his chest, a bright crimson sprayed out as the body crashed into the wall before the shattering de-rez.

"Holy shit, holy shit!" Kirito started to panic

"Kirito listen to me, when we get out there it's kill or be killed, fire and shoot on anything that tries to kill you. To survive it's _kill or be killed_! You wanna live, you _kill_!" Philia pushed Kirito against the wall staring him down. There was a burning fire in Philia's eyes as they looked at each other before she turned her attention to the choke point they're at.

"Philia, lay down a suppressive fire, I'll move to the bar area and cover you. We leap-frog it. Kirito you follow behind." Philia hefted her VSS and started to fire her weapon striking some of the attacking Kozak dead, Klein rushed his ass to the bar, sliding up and over, taking Philia's targets by firing from his assault rifle.

"Kirito move!" Philia shouted as she ran. Kirito peaked the corner to see where the attacking gunmen were, and one of them caught sight of him.

"That's Kirito! Kill him!" Kirito had his gun up when they shifted their fire to him where their corner was. Kirito squeezed the trigger and let out a burst from the Vector striking one of them as he rushed out.

"Klein, AT in that corner now!" Philia ordered. Klein hefted up his RPG and took aim at the corner. The rocket shot out from the launcher quick and obliterated the side of the room the Kozak were dug in as more vehicles carrying 55 Ronin rolled in with reinforcements.

"Chyort, we got to pull back! Fall back!" An attacking Kozak called out to those that were still alive. The surviving gunmen rushed out an opening that was present to them in the hole that Klein had made.

"Run you fucking dogs, run back to your master!" Goh shouted firing the entire magazine getting a couple of the stragglers before silence fell again.

"Madam Goh, you alright?" A Ronin Enforcer asked her as he approached

"I'm fine. Good reaction time in getting here. However I will find the cocksucker that let those dogs in and I will have him tortured in public." Goh seethed with rage before looking over to Kirito and the others. "You want my help you three? Help me put down these dogs and I guarantee my assistance in the attack."

First thing Asuna needed to do before leaving was head back to her house and pull Yui onto a portable device. Yui was an AI that was found by Kirito and Asuna during the SAO days and they had taken her in as their adoptive daughter after the Cardinal System rejected her and Kirito managed to save her as an item. Her home was vacant which was great to know considering her family were always so preoccupied with work and business trips. Asuna remembered what Kirito explained in how to transfer Yui to something like their phone, the little mounted camera and speaker was enough to let her see what there was to see in the real world.

"Yui you there?" Asuna called out as the transfer was there.

"M-Mommy? Everything okay? Where's Daddy?" Yui's voice came from the speaker, the camera moved on its own as it tracked their movement

"Don't be alarmed but Daddy was taken and we might need your help to locate him." Asuna explained "It's some kind of VR program called 'The Killing Fields', is there any way you can find something out on it?

"Gimme a second." Yui requested slightly before going silent. Asuna, Silica and Suguha to move out of the room, back down the stairs and outside before Yui spoke. "Mommy, I looked up what you told me but I hit some firewalls, but what I found out was it was developed for a military application, and I found an image of the man behind it." Asuna looked at the photo and her eyes went wide in horror and fear, the face was scarred but he remembered that face anywhere.

"It _is_ Sugou…" she gasped

"There's also a backdoor someone seemed to place to access your phone, it wasn't traced back to Sugou but by someone else. I got an address for you." Yui continued

"Yui you magnificent girl!" Silica beamed

"Gimme the address." Asuna requested "We'll start there for answers."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Philia was the first one through the door of Agil's sanctuary as she dropped a duffle of guns she snagged off the dead members of Kozak, a mix of P90s, FAL rifles and AKS-74us. She looked like she was mulling over her options after the demands of Madam Goh in the club, as Klein and Kirito walked in afterwards. Kirito's hands were shaking after the firefight and killing one of his attackers, it had been years since he'd actually killed someone while trapped in Sword Art Online, it had been a different feeling to him then, but this was different, he pulled a gun on someone and shot him dead.

"What the hell happened to you three?!" Agil exclaimed as he entered the room just glancing at the three of them, clear as day that the talk didn't go according to plan.

"The Kozak gang tried to gank Madam Goh and we got caught up in a firefight at the club. She wasn't so keen on sticking her neck out for the assault on the fortress, but she gave us a demand if we are to get her help." Klein explained

"What was it?" inquired Agil

"We kill the Kozak gang. Cut the heads off and leave no remains." Philia chimed. Agil cursed under his breath, rubbing his temples before eyeing the bag of guns and Kirito.

"I take it those are the guns from those that attacked the joint?" asked Agil, Klein nodded in affirmation. "Kirito why don't you go take those guns over to Lisbeth and have her inspect them, see if we can't put them to work for our people." Kirito didn't say anything except he headed over to snatch the bag up before being directed to Lisbeth's little armory and gunsmithing area.

"What the hell happened to Kirito?" Agil asked as soon as he was out of earshot

"The Kozak guys saw Kirito was there and shifted focus to him, Noboyuki's got an HVT bounty on his head now, every nut with a gun is going to be after him now." Klein explained "He had to kill a couple of the Kozak, if...I had to guess he's still feeling the rattle of that."

"We gotta get him more trained in... Philia you show him the ropes of how to work in a unit and squad."

"You wanna stick me with Kirito? Agil I know he's your friend but with that bounty on his head he's more of a danger to us here now than before!"

"Which is more imperative now that we get a damn good way out of here. You're training him. If we are going after Sergei and Vasily Kozak, we're gonna need him to be ready and trained."

Lisbeth's focus on blacksmithing had been bouncing from game to game since her newly acquired freedom from Aincrad. She hopped onto the game ALO easily and quickly and worked to master her craft there, but in this world, blacksmithing and gunsmithing were on the same category except Lisbeth had to learn the inner workings of most rifles in a short amount of time. Her gaze shifted to an incoming person who was coming down the stairs into her domain, eyes lit up with joy as she recognized the person.

"Kirito!" She cried with happiness as she threw her arms around him in a massive hug, tightly holding onto her friend "You have no idea how good it is to see you…"

"It's good to see you too Liz." Kirito responded by giving a loose hug, due to the bag of guns in his hand

"I saw on some of the TVs what this dick weasel wanted from everyone here. How he put a hunting target on you, Kirito."

"Yeah, I had uh- brief experience with that when I went out with Klein and this other girl- Philia I think her name is? I went out to try and enlist some help with them for this idea that Agil and the others have, and their requests is that we take the Kozak out of power here."

"You guys went to _the Ronin_?" Lisbeth asked in almost in disbelief

"We went to the Ronin. It was kind of a shitstorm though...I... I had to kill some people some of those people, the Kozak." Lisbeth looked shocked, she pursed her lips

"You're alive though, that's what counts." she said, before changing the subject to draw her friend's mind off what lingered in his thoughts. "Now what do you have in the bag here?"

"Guns, things we took from the Kozak that were dropped. Agil thinks you can fix 'em and tune them up for our people." Kirito spoke before placing it onto the table, opening it up he set some of them down in front over. Lisbeth looked them over before inspecting each of the elements of the rifle and weapons.

"I'll get these fixed up. Oh, and Kirito? I'm glad you're okay. We'll make it through this world and get back to the real one." Lisbeth said, trying to at least lighten the mood and his spirits a bit.

"Thanks Liz." Kirito said with a brief smile before heading back up. Lisbeth frowned in worry before going back to work.

Asuna and the others arrived at the coordinates of the location that Yui had provided. It was an old abandoned electric power plant. Asuna looked about the place checking for an opening.

"Yui, you sure this is the location?" Asuna finally asked

"Yes Mommy. The signal I picked up lead me here. The person who called you ran the signal through some proxies, but it ultimately leads me here." Said Yui

"Good Christ, this looks like the lair a villain would keep." Suguha sighed in frustration

"C'mon we got to look for a way in." Asuna said to the two of them. Silica wandered over to the front door, wondering if the front was viable to enter. Grabbing hold of the handles she tried to tug and push the door.

"Well the front was worth a shot." She told the two of them before eyeballing an open window. A lightbulb flickered in her head "Wait! Asuna can you give me a boost in through that window there? I may be able to get the front door unlocked if I can make it through."

"Silica, you don't know what's in there! For all we know this could be a trap laid out by the same people that took Kazuto!" Suguha then protested. Asuna's sight looked to the window then to the younger of the trio.

"You sure you got this?" she asked her

"We don't have all day. We can't comb the building for an opening and this is the only opening we got." Silica responded sharply "If what leads us to Kirito is here then we gotta do it." Asuna could see that she was nervous to do this, but her drive was at the forefront with Silica, Asuna nodded before getting underneath the open window motioning Silica over, Silica took a deep breath before she got a running start and jumped into Asuna's hand she was putting out, it took Asuna by surprise for a brief moment before she was able to save herself from wiping out and getting Silica up to the window. She struggled for a moment, but she climbed up and in and made it, she waved down to the others before heading inside to get the front door.

Silica looked about the place, it wasn't as dusty as she thought but there was some element of it had been touched up recently. She glanced around for stairs leading down and a map, Silica got lucky and found a map near one of the stairs and traced her path along the diagram of the building before heading down the stairs following the directions she set in her mind.

It took her roughly five minutes before the front door opened, Silica had gotten the door open and held it open for both Asuna and Suguha who walked inside and looked about the massive lobby of the old plant.

"Alright…if I was some mysterious guy with a secret hideout where would I be in here?" Suguha spoke softly to herself

"Maybe somewhere close to some generators. Somewhere if he's giving calls like what he did." Asuna responded "Silica did you find a map or something of the place?"

"Yes! There were some generator rooms and some office rooms around."

"Alright let's go check those out." Asuna said motioning for the others to follow, Suguha took out her phone and flipped the light on it to illuminate the path taking the lead. The three of them took out their AUGMA devices, while hesitant to use them, there was no reason to believe the hazards of the Ordinal Scale incident would affect them from this point on. They booted them up and suddenly Yui was floating around them joining them in their search. They wandered deeper into the plant, following the turns and way Silica called out, soon after the three of them arrived in an office room that was still lit up, there were computer monitors everywhere, that had camera locations, and other various things that Asuna struggled to make sense of this.

"Whoever this guy was, it looked like he was living here." Suguha said after inspecting some of the items on a nearby table. There'd been ramen cups, soda and water bottles in the trash and recycling bins that looked to of been brought with him. Suguha let out a yelp of surprise as she was grabbed from behind by a person who came through one of the doors.

"Leafa!" Silica cried out. Suguha however managed to get loose of the grab and flipped the person onto their back. Her attacker was a male who let out a surprised yelp before hitting the ground with a thud before she put him in a pinning hold on the ground.

"Who the hell are you?!" Suguha interrogated

"E-Eas-Easy! I'm not one of the bad guys! I'm the one who called you!" Asuna glared and studied the features of the man. He was an American male, who looked to be Klein's age, perhaps younger.

"Suguha, let him up. But if he tries anything, put his ass on the ground again." Asuna spoke sharply

"Oh, trust me I won't hesitant." Suguha said with a grin before letting the man up. The American had sandy brown hair, glasses with some stubble, wore some shorts and a printed T-shirt and hoodie.

"Okay, Mr. Courtesy call. Who the hell are you?" Asuna inquired as she approached the man.

"My name's Erik, Erik Conors. I used to work for Prometheus Industries." Erik said taking a deep breath as he tried to compose himself.

"Alright, Erik Conors. Tell me what you know about what happened to my beloved. Tell me what you know about Kirito."

"Kazuto Kiriguya, Kirito, he's in more danger than you know." Erik began "After you got off the phone, I did more digging and found out who ran the program. Your boyfriend is being held prisoner in a warzone world by Sugou Noboyuki."

 _Titania~_ The name sent a chill up her spine as her worst horrors were confirmed, Asuna could hear the snake like voice from Sugou in her ears again.

"How'd you find this out?" she asked as her breath hitched, and her pulse became more rapid.

"I uh..managed to secure a way in their to scout and look by creating a backdoor into the world via an AmuSphere. Noboyuki's put a target on his head and most of the world's residents are gunning up to go after him like he's John Wick or something." Silica and Suguha gave Erik a look before he realized they didn't get his reference "He's public enemy one to most of the Killing Fields."

"You said you have a backdoor by way of an AmuSphere? Can you hack in there and get them out?" Suguha commented

"It's not that easy, getting the backdoor was tricky enough, but getting them, Kirito and your friends out, is a whole 'nother can of worms. They're linked up into this updated version of the NervGear, I tap that, and I get busted and whacked. There's a not so feasible way out but that's only if they can destabilize certain aspects of the world."

"Can you get me in there?" Asuna finally said

"Asuna!" Suguha looked in disbelief

"Yeah, I can get you in there, I could get us in there. I was gonna go in and see if I can help where I can and was hoping you'd join. Just- a word of warning. Noboyuki's running the world by SAO rules."

"But the AmuSphere can't microwave our brains could it? Not like the NervGear so it can't kill us?"

"In theory?" Erik said with a fake kind of smile "I have no fucking idea. But if we are gonna go in. You three need to get use to some guns before we dive." Asuna took a deep breath, before making her peace with her choice. Kirito had been through hell and back for her on many occasions. Now, it was her turn to do the same for him.


End file.
